CHRISTMAS CROWS ON THE FEEDER

They came in a large flock and with a sharp morning sun attacked!
There was nothing in the feeder for them, but they fought for the
space and after a few moments moved on.

Christmas Eve

As the sun arose on Christmas Eve, it flashed under the clouds for a
brief moment and cast long shadows though the garden gate. There was
light surf at high tide with seabirds, gulls and goldeneyes, feeding
on the flotsam in the cool light.

Final Compost Turning of the Season

All the flowers have been headed and irises trimmed. The compost
pile had a full load for the season and just before I left for
Bucharest, we turned the pile with dirt up to cook the mess for the
spring. We will cover with black filter fabric to keep the weeds out
and have great soil in the spring... just mix in with sand.

Getting Ready to Sail

Steven puts a double reef into the main and hanks the smallest head
sail for a blustery day out on Lynn Canal. We beat up to south
Shelter Island and did a single reached back, slapping the red nun
coming and going.

Flying Squirrel

Cedar discovered a flying squirrel this morning rustling in a bag in his room! It must have been brought in by a cat last night. Seems uninjured and eating. We do not see too many of these since they are nocturnal. We do not feed these to the snake.

THE 2008 WALNUT CROP

This year we got a single walnut on the Carpathian walnut trees.
Probably too cool and wet for nuts in SE Alaska. At least it is not
nothing and always better than the neighbors. When global warming
hits this place, we should be all set!

WET FALL FOGGY DAY

There was a lull in the rain and the fog settled into the trees. The
summer was so wet it has left everything so green. This is a shot of
the front yard from the bedroom window.

Paddock Hay Harvest

For the first time we actually harvested some hay off the old
paddock. Now that the horses are gone, we can let the grass grow and
after 2 seasons harvest a good cutting in the fall after two cuts in
the summer. We will just have to see if there is enough annual
compost production to give us an ample supply of new topsoil to
develop the gardens.

Saskatoons

Saskatoons did well this year.

One day on a helicopter for a glacier tour, we flew over the Williwaws and I managed to take a good shot of our point. One can see the main house, studios, gardens and dock. The lodge and bungalow are still in the trees.